Zechariah 11:4-5

11:4 The Lord my God says this: “Shepherd the flock set aside for slaughter. 11:5 Those who buy them ¹  slaughter them and are not held guilty; those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich.’ Their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

Zechariah 11:16-17

11:16 Indeed, I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not take heed to the sheep headed to slaughter, will not seek the scattered, and will not heal the injured. ²  Moreover, he will not nourish the one that is healthy but instead will eat the meat of the fat sheep ³  and tear off their hooves.

11:17 Woe to the worthless shepherd

who abandons the flock!

May a sword fall on his arm and his right eye!

May his arm wither completely away,

and his right eye become completely blind!”

[11:5]  ¹ sn The expression those who buy them appears to be a reference to the foreign nations to whom Israel’s own kings “sold” their subjects. Far from being good shepherds, then, they were evil and profiteering. The whole section (vv. 4-14) refers to the past when the Lord, the Good Shepherd, had in vain tried to lead his people to salvation and life.

[11:16]  ² tn Heb “the broken” (so KJV, NASB; NRSV “the maimed”).

[11:16]  ³ tn Heb “the fat [ones].” Cf. ASV “the fat sheep”; NIV “the choice sheep.”